When Italiannies, the chain restaurant first opened in PJ, it used to be my fav place to go for Italian meals but it’s been years since I’ve been back there. Sad to say the last few experiences had not been so good, for some reason their dishes are always off in seasoning. But I remember this one dish I had on a date with my then BF-husband, it’s grilled chicken on a bed of creamed spinach. I did some research and found that it’s actually called ‘Chicken Milanese’, now if memory serves me correctly, milanese is usually a thin slab of meat that’s breaded and fried, but for some reason, it’s grilled on their menu. I am under the opinion they should just call it grilled chicken instead of just using some fancy Italian terms and not stick to it.
Anyway, I don’t know if they’re still serving it there but when I ate it for the first time, I love the combination. The second time I had it was with my parents for a BF and parents meet-greet session, we ordered this dish again but my mother commented that it was too salty, really disappointing. Although I’ve stopped going to Italiannies, I will always remember this dish so I thought I would recreate my own version.
GRILLED PAPRIKA CHICKEN RECIPE
Ingredients;
Chicken breasts, cut into even thickness
Salt
Black Pepper
Olive oil
Paprika powder
Steps;
1. Mix the olive oil, paprika, a pinch of salt and pepper together. Score the chicken breasts lightly.
2. Rub the mix all over and let it sit for about 15 mins.
3. Heat your grill pan and cook your chicken evenly. Let it rest before serving.
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CREAMED SPINACH & CHOPPED TOMATOES RECIPE
Ingredients;
Spinach, frozen pre-chopped or a big bunch of fresh spinach)
Water for boiling
3 cloves Garlic chopped
1 tomato diced (optional)
About a handful of shaved parmesan cheese
200ml Cream, depending on how much spinach you have, you mite need more or less
A pinch of Salt
Black Pepper
A pinch of Nutmeg
1 tbsp Olive oil
Steps;
1. Boil the spinach, if using frozen ones, you might have to wait a bit longer for it to boil down but fresh spinach boils down quickly. Strain it off.
2. If using frozen pre-chopped spinach just squeeze out excess water after it has cooled. For fresh spinach, squeeze out all the water by placing it in dish towels and then chop it semi finely.
3. Heat up olive oil in a pot. Add chopped garlic and sautee for a few mins. Add spinach (be careful, it will spit), sautee for a few mins and then add the cream. Depending on how creamy you like it you can either use the whole carton or just half, I liked mine really creamy so I use everything.
4. Let it simmer on a slow fire for a few mins. Add seasoning; pepper, nutmeg (powder or grated, just a pinch) but don’t add salt yet.
5. Add your parmesan cheese and stir it in. Taste. If there is enough flavour you can skip the salt. If feeding it to babies, you can skip the salt too. If it taste bland, add about half a teaspoon of salt.
6. Turn off the fire and stir in the tomatoes, they need to still retain their crunch so add it at the last second before serving.
Note; You can leave out the tomatoes and let it be just a creamed spinach recipe. Also delish as dips and sides for many dishes.
